Subject: Whistle-belly-vengeance & other drinks of colonial days

From: [email-masked] (Paul Havemann)
Date: 27 Dec 93 17:23:08 EST

I recently picked up a copy of a newsletter from The Boston Beer Company
which contained these historical tidbits, as taken from a book
(apparently) titled _Real Beer and Good Eats_: 

"The taverns of early America were the centers of social and political 
life... the Sons of Liberty drank full-bodied American beer, and they 
drank it in a variety of ways.  Here's what Samuel Adams and his fellow 
revolutionaries might have been sipping as they schemed against Mother 
England.

"Flip -- A mixture of strong ale, rum, molasses, dried pumpkins, cream, 
and eggs.  Flip was mixed in a large glass tumbler and heating by 
plunging into it a red-hot poker.

"Bellows-top -- Flip with a last-minute addition of beaten eggs, cream, 
and sugar.  So named because the froth billowed over the glass.

"Whistle-belly-vengeance -- Sour beer simmered in a kettle, sweetened 
with molasses, filled with crumbs of bread, served hot.

"Dragon's milk -- Strong ale.

"Dog's nose -- A mixed drink of hot beer laced with gin and flavored 
with sugar.

"Huckle-my-buff -- A mix of hot beer, brandy, and eggs.

"Small beer -- Beer made from a second lautering of the malt in the 
breweries or by home brewers who would use molasses, wheat bran, corn, 
and other ingredients."

Two things suggest themselves as I read of these, errrrr, tantalizing
recipes:  first, that the colonists went to great lengths, using
whatever was at hand, to catch a buzz; and second, they had mighty
strong stomachs. 

Can't imagine why I didn't find these on the menu at Colonial
Williamsburg.  Or in their cookbook, either.  Yum.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Paul Havemann   ([email-masked])                   Resident Cynic, a.f.d-q

        What the heck is "force-meat," anyway?

---

From: [email-masked] (John K. Taber)
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1993 03:29:24 GMT

Paul Havemann ([email-masked]) wrote:

: I recently picked up a copy of a newsletter from The Boston Beer Company
: which contained these historical tidbits, as taken from a book
: (apparently) titled _Real Beer and Good Eats_: 
[description of Colonial alcoholic beverages]

Does anybody have the recipe for Rum Fustian, I think it was called?

: Paul Havemann   ([email-masked])                   Resident Cynic, a.f.d-q

:         What the heck is "force-meat," anyway?
Probably anglicized "farce'" or stuffing.

-- 
John K. Taber                        [email-masked]
=======================================================

---

From: [email-masked] (K.M. Jeary)
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1993 14:12:15 GMT

'Small beer' is what is listed in the accounts of Friends' School
(Saffron Walden, Essex)
as the scholars' breakfast drink in the late 18th century. Various
suggestions have been
made to the effect that it was not actually very alcoholic on two grounds:

(i) Friends (Quakers) at this period did not generally drink alcohol, so
this cannot have
been regarded as seriously alcoholic,
(ii) the method of brewing meant that its specific gravity was very low.
I myself do not
actually know of any contemporary documentation on how it was brewed.

Still, in this at least, American and English habits were similar.

The opinions contained herein are not the fault of Cambridge University 
Computing Service...............
Internet: [email-masked]       University Computing Service,
JANET:    [email-masked]       Computer Laboratory, Pembroke St,
                                      Cambridge CB2 3QG, England.